Event Styling, Crafts, DIY, Design, and anything that is beautiful in this world

Archives for May 2017

Sometimes we are so preoccupied with the fantastical and aspirational that we fail to appreciate the things that are right under our noses. Take, for example, choosing party themes. Who would have thought to do this type of party:

In my so-far 3 and a half years of styling, no one asked to do this type of a party. But yes, that’s right. Party Magic just did a Filipino Fiesta party!

Why “Ate Cady” and not just plain “Cady”? Well, I found out that “Ate Cady” is Cady’s grandma’s very special term of endearment for her beloved granddaughter.

One reason that I think people are so hesitant to do this type of party revolves around our preconceptions about our own country. For some, Filipino-themed parties might come off as dull, typical, or just plain old ordinary.

But don’t you find it odd how the French are proud of their unique language, the Americans extol their values of liberty and justice, and the Chinese tout their culture which was developed and preserved over thousands of years, but we Filipinos seem to lack anything to say about our own culture? We seem to more often look outward rather than inward.

When I heard that Giselle, my client, wanted to do a theme revolving around Filipino culture, I thought it was the brightest idea I’ve ever heard.

One of the things I wanted to do almost immediately was to create jeepney centerpieces like the one shown below:

There are so many things in this type of theme that can go wrong, but people fail to realize that there are also so many things that can go right, given the right vision and execution.

For example, the ceiling (see picture above). Since fiesta is equated to a barrage of bright colors , there were a of thing happening: multi-colored bunting flags, bright yellow and orange drapes, as well as those streamers that you’d normally see on the streets of the metro (our version had Talk ‘N Text streamers!). To neutralize all these colors, I wanted to do something cleaner for the hanging lanters: all of them should be white.

The results are undeniable: these white lanterns acted as a sort of “blanket” that effectively lessens all the noise of color happening above it. It also provides the guests with a cleaner, “styled” aesthetic.

White lanterns blanket the venue of Cady’s Birthday

Besides the jeepney centerpiece, we also did a sorbetero centerpiece for some of the other tables:

What is a determining element of every Filipino party? Lechon, of course!

Although I have to warn you: this is a real lechon. It is actually Cady’s birthday cake! Isn’t that something!

Cady’s birthday cake isn’t of the normal variety: it looks like a lechon! The ones who made it? None other than Tazzy Cakes!

Cady’s stage was set up with Cady’s Jeepney:

A key factor in making this theme a success are the details. I had to come up with a lot of graphic work and posters, such as the Coca-Cola banner and the Sangguniang Kabataan signage in the photo below: [Read more…]

For any of you who have watched anything Disney in the past few years (practically everyone I suppose!), you might have come across these cute, little critters Disney calls “Tsum Tsum”. It’s basically all the famous Disney characters, magically transformed into these squat, circular, and elongated pieces of stuffed toys:

“Tsum Tsum” is derived from the Japanese word tsumu, which means “to stack”. This stacking feature is the central characteristic of the Tsum Tsum characters, thus their elongated shapes.

Well, for today’s blog post, I am happy to unveil Party Magic’s very first Tsum Tsum party, celebrating Jack Jack’s first birthday!

The thing I love about my job is that I get to create things that I love, week in week out. It’s no different for Jack Jack’s Tsum Tsum party. In fact, this party is even more special for me, as both my daughters love Tsum Tsum!

And its also special for Jaja, my client and Jack Jack’s mom, since her father-in-law fell in love with Tsum Tsum while playing the game Line: Disney Tsum Tsum!

And whenever I am in love, I just can’t help but over-deliver to my clients, sometimes (much to the shock of my husband), to the point that we go way over our budget…

A large 3D Dale (from Chip and Dale) Tsum Tsum!

For example, I kind of went overboard and made a total of 20 Tsum Tsum characters, some of them in 3D. There’s that cute 3D Dale (from Chip and Dale) in the above photo. We had to squeeze in most of them on the stage:

While we moved the rest in the photo-op:

An Olaf Tsum Tsum in the middle of Jack Jack’s carnival tent!

Take a look at that Doctor Strange Tsum Tsum movie poster. Isn’t he adorable!

And the entrance:

Passion and excitement is that rare magic that fuels creative work. Fortunately in this case, the Party Magic team and I had some of that magic with plenty to spare! Below is our ceiling treatment:

Since Jaja and I decided on a Tsum Tsum theme with a carnival twist, I thought it would be fun to include these hanging Tsum Tsums in the middle of a hula hoop “on fire”:[Read more…]

When I first saw the trailer of Moana, I was giddy with curiosity to watch it. Not just because it seemed to have great original music and a feisty heroine, but because of the richness of Polynesian culture that it shored up.

From just watching the trailer, and seeing the setting (island), people (tatooed, robust, black-haired tribes), and the demigod Maui, I instantly recognized the movie to be about the Pacific Islanders, a group of people that I am always interested in learning about, ever since my trip to New Zealand, that beautiful, wondrous country (of not just sheep, mind you)!

So you’d understand the excitement I had in creating Jia’s Moana party:

Moana as the theme for a party is filled with possibilities. For me, Moana is kind of like a beach / surfing / nautical party, but with elements of Polynesian (Hawaiian, New Zealander) culture, thrown in, such as leis which my client Joan gave out to all guests during the party!

Aloha! Guests were given lei’s to wear as they entered Jia’s party

The stage itself was a joy to design. I decided on a beach scene, with a baby Moana (as requested by Joan) in the off-center, framed by a pair of totem poles, Kakomoras, and Moana’s boat, and her parents. Seashells and starfishes dot the beach floor.

Moana and her loving parents

Peeking at Jia’s stage from a tiki hut

I love how the Party Magic team and I accented the ceiling, mostly with grass skirts, tropical colored lanterns, leaves, string lights, and oh, some pineapple lanterns as well!

Being the culture and history buff that I am, I just cannot write this blog post without discussing Moana’s cultural overtones!

When Disney does a movie about a cultural group, you know that they’ll do it right and nail it.

For example, in the movie, a green stone representing the heart of the island goddess Te Fiti found its way into Moana’s hands. Later on, Moana meets a demigod of the wind and sea called Maui.

The green stone is actually called pounamu, a name given to a group of stones found in Southern New Zealand. The name pounamu is of Maori origin (Maori are the native peoples of New Zealand). In fact, pounamu is actually a part of the Maori name for New Zealand’s South Island, which is called Te Waipounamu which means “the waters of greenstone”!

The heart of Te Fiti, a magical greenstone in the movie Moana

Maui, on the other hand, is a very famous mythological god / demi-god known all throughout the Polynesian Islands (I kind of think of him as the Hercules-equivalent of Polynesia). For example, there is a whole island in Hawaii with the name Maui. New Zealand’s North Island, meanwhile, is named Te Ika-a-Maui, which means, “the fish of Maui”. [Read more…]

Time flies and it seemed like March was just yesterday! The month of March always brings for me good tidings, mostly because of two things: it’s the birthday month of my husband, and it’s ICBB preschool‘s Moving Up Day!

This is the month where the Party Magic team’s dedication to their craft is put to the extreme test, as we not only styled all THREE Moving Up Day events of the preschool (which were held in Teatrino, Promenade Greenhills), but had to do this while trying to fulfill our obligations to our birthday party clients as well.

If you are the type of mom who’s tired of the usual themes, here’s a twist that I’d like to show you:

Instead of a simple “princess” theme, why not take a “higher level” look at it and consider Once Upon A Time, or Fairy Tale Characters? The good thing about approaching the usual princess theme from this angle is the huge potential it has for interpretation, and the “mashing up” of various characters into one setting.

Here is a sneak peek of what I chose to do for sweet Olivia’s party:

Storybooks abound in the ceiling of Olivia’s party

Gold leaves and vintage books create a romantic air over the guests

Geppetto’s Workshop, found in the photo-op section of Olivia’s party

Special thanks to Happy Folks Studio for doing an amazing job as always in capturing the spirit of this event!

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS AND THE DESIGN APPROACH

While it’s all great to bring out your favorite characters and just hope that they “blend” well together onstage, there are obvious limitations to the combinations of characters (hello, Pocahontas and Cinderella?). So my client, Hazel, and I brainstormed the cast of characters that we would be using for the event:

In my mind, the best way to approach this type of overarching theme is to create a subtle, more nuanced design by focusing on the setting or a particular element of the fairy tale rather than the characters themselves.

This type of approach can be seen in the invitation we designed for Hazel:

No sight of Rapunzel (just her long hair). Pinocchio’s hat is just peeking off to the right of Olivia’s name. Cinderella and Dorothy’s shoes, and Merida’s bow and arrow round up the rest of the elements. Again, no actual characters seen anywhere. This creates a subtler (and dare I say more sophisticated?) feel.

Cinderella’s Royal Ride

Another good example would be Cinderella. Just because Cinderella is part of your theme doesn’t mean that you need to have a standee of the Disney princess greeting guests as they enter the party, as this might be too “in your face”. Why not a royal carriage instead?

I also decided to add this romantic-looking book arch as an entryway into the venue.[Read more…]

Welcome To My World!

I'm Michelle, mother of the 2 sweetest girls in the world, Sofia and Chloe. I'm an event stylist and owner of the boutique styling shop, Party Magic. I love doing crafts, design, cooking, and anything that has anything to do with beauty and art.